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Reeves Gabrels

About Reeves Gabrels

Reeves Gabrels is a world-class guitarist, songwriter/composer and music producer born in New York and currently based in Nashville, Tennessee. Since 2012 Reeves has been a member and guitarist of The Cure, one of Britain’s most distinctive post-punk rock bands. Led by Robert Smith on vocals and guitar, The Cure headlines major music festivals and performs worldwide for fans of all ages.

Reeves previously enjoyed a long-time musical collaboration with David Bowie, notably as a member of the band Tin Machine, guitarist in the studio and on tour for the improvisatory ‘Outside’, co-writer and co-producer for albums including ‘Earthling’ and ‘hours…’ and co-composer of the soundtrack for the popular video game Omikron. Reeves was also music director/guitarist for Bowie’s star-studded 50th birthday celebration concert at Madison Square Garden. “Dead Man Walking,” a song from Earthling, garnered a Grammy nomination for Bowie/Gabrels.

Independently, Reeves has released five albums in his own name as guitarist and vocalist; two instrumental, improvisatory guitar collaborations (one with David Tronzo and one with Bill Nelson); composed film and television soundtracks; and developed a wide-ranging creative identity by writing, performing and recording with musicians in genres from heavy metal to electronica to jazz.

From a review of Rockonica (2005) by Andy Ellis in Guitar Player: “Reeves Gabrels walks the line between song structure and wiggy sonics like no one else. His tunes on Rockonica have familiar verse/chorus construction (and are often maddeningly catchy), and his riffs and solos typically possess the contours that define classic rock. But bubbling and roiling under and around this foundation are layers of eerie, broken sounds and oddball textures. And Gabrels isn’t shy about juxtaposing genres. … The album careens from jangly acoustic picking to brutally distorted riffage, and includes enough insane sustain and howling harmonics…to satisfy diehard guitar geeks. … But if you’re drawn to bold, unexpected colors—and the notion that the guitar is a fabulous tone-generator, rather than a sharp tool for delivering speedy scale passages—you’ll dig this journey into Gabrels’ seething psyche. In ‘Continue,’ he sings, ‘Let me bend your ear and your mind a little too.’ No kidding.”